


Serendipity

by rosieeexox



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-12-31
Updated: 2012-12-31
Packaged: 2017-11-23 03:25:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 9,497
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/617543
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rosieeexox/pseuds/rosieeexox
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Based completely on the movie Serendipity with John Cusack and Kate Beckinsale. Louis meets Harry in a little shop in New York City. Louis believes in fate and destiny, and Harry believes in making your own destiny. They agree to put fate to the test by separating and seeing if fate will bring them together; but fate works in funny ways, sometimes.</p><p> </p><p>They met by chance. Harry fell in love at first sight; but Louis had to be sure it was destiny.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Serendipity

**Author's Note:**

> Based on the movie Serendipity with John Cusack and Kate Beckinsale. Leave me feedback here or on tumblr. (fyeah-larryfics)

It’s a cold December afternoon as Harry makes his way through the busy streets of New York City. A large gust of wind blows his curls into his face, causing him to stop walking to put them back in their place. He looks up at the store sign next to him and shrugs before entering. The warmth of Bloomingdales hits him and he shivers away the cold. He wanders around the store rubbing his frozen hands together before deciding that maybe he should buy a pair of gloves. It is winter, after all. As he rides the escalator down to the first floor, he groans at the crowd of people surrounding the little glove stand, but makes his way over nonetheless.

Louis had been standing amongst the crowd of people, waiting for the cashier to check out enough people so that he can get the stupid pair of gloves that his stupid best friend asked him to get for his stupid girlfriend. There’s a lot of pushing and shoving and shouting and Louis really just wants to go home and watch whatever movie is on tv and drink hot chocolate. He’s about to turn around and give up when a spot opens up right in front of the little rack of gloves. He’s about to take the dainty black gloves off their hook when a rather large pair of hands beats him to it.

“Hey!” he scowls, turning to meet the eyes of the thief. “I was going to grab those.”

“Were you?” The boy says with a smirk. Louis studies him for a moment, deciding he can’t be much older than himself.

“I was.” He responds, matter-of-factly.

“Excuse me, miss?” He turns to face the cashier. “Would you happen to have another pair of black gloves for my friend here?”

“Whatever’s on the rack is whatever we’ve got.” She replied snootily.

Louis watches in fascination at the other boys reaction, and can’t help the smile that creeps across his face.

“I guess I’ll just have to give these you to, then.” The boy says, handing the gloves to Louis. “Wouldn’t fit me anyway. My hands are much too big.”

Louis giggles.

“I’m Harry, by the way. Harry Styles.” He says, extending his hand.

“I’m Louis.” He replies, shaking Harry’s hand. 

Harry continues to shake Louis’ hand, waiting. “Is there a last name that goes with that?”

“Yes.”

Harry lets his hand drop and raises his eyebrow. “Who are the gloves for, anyway?” He asks.

Don’t tell him they’re for your bestfriends girlfriend. That’s just pathetic. Make something up. “My boyfriend.” He stutters out. Well, ok then.

Harry nods slightly. “Me too.”

“You just said your hands wouldn’t fit!” Louis smirks.

Harry’s face reddens. “No, I, uh, I didn’t meant the gloves were for-I just meant, uh, you know. Me too.”

Now it’s Louis’ turn to blush. “Oh, I see.” He turns to finally pay the cashier for the gloves and feels a mix of excitement and anxiety to see that Harry’s still standing next to him.

“Do you have anywhere to be, Harry Styles?”

Harry shakes his head.

“Care to get a bit of ice cream, then? ‘Sonly fair that I repay you for letting me buy the gloves. Liam’ll be thrilled.” Louis spills.

Harry nods and follows Louis through the crowd and into the cold, busy streets. They walk a few blocks until Louis sops in front of a small ice cream parlor.

“Serendipity.” Harry breathes.

“It’s my favorite ice cream place!” Louis smiles excitedly, setting the bells hanging on the door off as they enter.

“So, is Liam your boyfriend?” Harry asks once the two are sitting at the table, shifting out of his jacket and unwrapping the scarf from around his neck.

Louis blushes and fidgets with his hands. “No, uh, I actually don’t have a boyfriend.” He says, placing his Bloomingdales bag on the floor.

Harry looks at him curiously.

“Liam is my bestfriend. He sent me out to buy a pair of gloves for his girlfriend, Danielle.”

“Ahh.” Is all Harry says.

They eat their ice cream in a comfortable silence until Harry breaks it.

“How did you even find this place? This ice cream is brilliant!”

“I first came in because of the name: Serendipity. It’s one of my favorite words.”

“Why’s that?” Harry asks, leaning in.

“It’s such a nice sounding word for what it means: a fortunate accident.”

Harry sits back in his seat, seemingly satisfied with that answer.

“Do you believe in fate, Harry Styles?”

“I don’t know. Do you?”

“Yeah.” Louis breathes. 

“So, you think fate’s behind everything? Everything’s predestined we don’t have any choice at all?”

“No, I think we make our own decisions. I just think that fate sends us little signs, and it’s how we read the signs that determines whether we’re happy or not.” Louis smiles.

“Little signals.” Harry says, more to himself.

“Exactly.”

The waitress clears their empty bowls and Louis reaches into his pocket to pay.

“Don’t you dare.” Harry says, mock anger. “I’ve got it.”

“But you-“

“You bought the gloves, no need to spend any more money.”

Harry hands the money to the waitress before Louis could protest again, so he settles for a scowl instead.

“I really should get going.” Louis whispers after the waitress hands Harry his change. Harry nods, putting his jacket on and stuffing the change into his pocket. He walks outside in time to see Louis hailing a cab.

“Wait a second!” He calls, jogging to catch up. “What’re you doing?”

“Going home?”

“So that’s it? You’re not going to give me your number?”

Louis smiles. “Do you believe in fate, Harry Styles?”

“I believe in helping fate along.”

Louis sighs and signals for the cab driver to wait. He pulls out a five dollar bill and hands it to Harry. “Write your name and phone number on here.”

Harry does without hesitation and watches in awe and curiosity as Louis runs across the street to a small candy stand.

“Hey!” Harry yells when he see’s Louis hand the man the five dollar bill.

“Fate.” Louis states simply after jogging back across the street, offering Harry half of the candy bar. He takes is hesitantly, not wanting to take his eyes off Louis.

“You have to put yourself out there, too.” Harry mumbles.

“Alright.” Louis says, reaching his hand into his bag. “You see this book?”

Harry nods, reading the title. 17Black 29Red. “I do.”

“Tonight, when I get home, I’m going to write my name and number inside it, and then first thing tomorrow morning I’m going to see it to a used books store.”

“Which book store?” Harry asks, hopefully, but Louis simply scoffs and shakes his head. “Right, fate.” Harry says, rolling his eyes dramatically.

Louis reaches for the door of the cab, and looks at Harry one more time before getting in and shutting the door behind him.

“That’s it?” Harry calls after the cab, watching it drive down the street. He doesn’t begin his walk home until the cab is no longer in sight. He makes it a couple of blocks before he notices he left his scarf back at the ice cream parlor. 

“Of fucking course.” He mutters to himself.

He shivers as he enters into the warm air and the smell of ice cream. 

“Excuse me, sir.” Harry says to one of the waiters. “I left my scarf on one of the tables upstairs. D’you mind if I go and fetch it?”

The waiter nods before rushing away to seat a group of customers.

When he reaches the top of the stairs, his eyes meet with a strangely familiar shade of blue.

“Louis.” Harry breathes. “What’re you doing here?

“Forgot my gloves.” He blushes, motioning to the Bloomingdales bag on the floor. “You?”

“Forgot my scarf.” Harry laughs, picking it up from the floor. A knowing smile flashes across their faces as Harry closes the gap between them. “Hey.” He breathes.

“Hi.” Louis blushes, taking the scarf out of the taller boy’s hands and placing it around his neck.

“Let’s go do something.” Harry offers, but it comes out as more of a question.

“Alright. What do you want to do?”

“I don’t care.”

“Alright. Let’s go.” Louis smiles, taking Harry’s hand in his and leading him back down the stairs and into the cold air.

They end up at the ice skating rink a couple of blocks away and skate around in circles. To anyone else they look like friends, lovers even; but Louis knows they’re practically strangers, and Harry’s determined to change that.

“Now, promise me you’re not just visiting for a week, or marrying somebody to get a green card, or on parole, or something ridiculous like that.” Harry jokes.

Louis laughs loudly and Harry’s stomach flutters. “None of the above. You?”

“No, no no.” Harry smiles. “Proud US citizen, no criminal record for me.”

“You’re not from the US, though.” Louis states.

“No, I’m not.” Harry laughs. “What was your first clue?”

“Your curls.” Louis teases, flicking one for good measure.

“Are you sure it’s not my adorable Chesire accent?” Harry smirks, poking his tongue out.

“That, too.” Louis giggles. They skate around another circle in silence before Louis restarts the conversation. “You’re from Chesire, then?”

“Yeah, moved here when I was about sixteen.”

“And how old are you now?”

“I’m eighteen. And you?”

“Twenty. Moved here recently, actually. From Doncaster.”

Harry hummed in response. “So, you won’t tell me your last name,” Louis opened his mouth to protest, but Harry cut him off. “So tell me why you moved here.”

“I dunno.” Louis sighed. “Moved here with my friend, decided we’d had enough of England, I guess.”

“Do you miss it?”

“I miss my mom terribly.”

“If I were her, I’d miss you, too.” Harry states, a hint of seriousness in his tone.

They skate around for another hour, laughing and talking and clinging to each other when the other one looses their balance. Harry’s nose and cheeks are pink with the cold, and Louis face is numb and his lips are chapped, but neither of them want to go home just yet.

“Favorite movie?” Louis asks.

Harry scoffs at the generic question, but answers anyway. “Love, Actually.”

“Never seen it.”

Harry’s mouth falls open in disbelief. “You’ve never seen Love, Actually? Come on! Who are you?”

Louis giggles. “Favorite New York moment?”

“This one’s climbing the charts.” Harry replies, halting his skating.

“I’m flattered.” Louis blushes, and he means it. “So, Harry Styles, what do you do in the big bad city of New York?”

“I, uh, work in a bakery.”

“Is that why you moved here?”

“No.”

“Are you going to tell me why you moved here?”

“Are you going to tell me your last name?” He smirks. Louis scowls. “I moved here because I love to sing.”

“Me too. Sing, I mean.”

Before Harry can ask him to sing for him, Louis is skating again and Harry isn’t far behind.

“Anything else you need to know about me?” Harry asks.

“Favorite sexual position?” Louis replies, smirking filthily.

Harry chokes on his response and trips over himself, sending him head first onto the icy ground.

Louis barks out a laugh and helps the taller boy to his feet. “Yeah, that’s mine, too.”

“Asshole.” Harry mutters.

“Did you hurt yourself?”

“Probably.” Harry mumbles, rubbing his elbow.

“We’ll fix that right up, don’t you worry.” Louis smiles, leading them towards the benches. Harry snorts when Louis pulls a bandaid out of his bag. Louis puts the bandaid on the tiny scratch and looks up. Harry’s breath hitches when their eyes lock and, for a moment, he thinks Louis is going to kiss him. The moment passes quickly, though, when Louis is tugging him to his feet.

“Come on!”

“Where are we going?” Harry groans.

“I’ve got an idea.”

Harry follows closely behind Louis for several blocks until they reach the outside of a building, both completely out of breath.

“The Waldorf?” Harry asks, confused, following the older boy inside “What are we doing here?”

Louis pushes the ‘Up’ button on two separate elevators before turning to Harry. “We’re both going to get inside this elevator, and once the doors close, we’re going to pick a floor. If we both end up on the same floor, it’s fate.”

“And if we don’t?”

“Then we wait for fate to bring us together again.”

“And if it doesn’t?”

“Then it wasn’t meant to be.” Louis states simply.

“This is crazy!” Harry sighs. “You don’t just have to most incredible night of your life with a perfect stranger, and then leave it all to chance, do you?”

“Just go stand by the elevator.” Louis instructs him. Harry sighs reluctantly, but listens.

“If we both randomly pick the same floor, then we’re meant to be together now. Otherwise, we wait for fate to bring us together at the right time.”

“You’re insane.” Harry breathes. The two elevators ding simultaneously and their doors open.

Harry steps inside his and watches Louis do the same. 

“When the door closes, take a breath and hit a button.”

“I don’t understand this!” Harry yells.

“You don’t have to understand.” Louis smiles. “You just have to have faith.”

“Faith in what?!” 

“Destiny.” Louis beams.

The doors start to close and Louis tosses the Bloomingdales bag to Harry.

“Hey!” He calls.

Harry looks up, catching the bag, his stomach fluttering at the smile on Louis’ face. The doors close and Harry takes a deep breath, closes his eyes, and pushes the button. He looks inside the bag to find a single black glove.

Twenty-three.

In his elevator, Louis’ heart is beat erratically. He closes his eyes, exhales slowly, and presses a delicate finger to a button. He reaches inside his pocket and pulls out a single black glove.

Twenty-three.

Harry fidgets nervously, watching the floors light up as the elevator passes it. On the fourteenth floor, the elevator dings and the doors open.

“No.” Harry mutters under his breath.

The elevator opens to reveal a kid dressed in an ugly Christmas sweater, with his father to match.

“I’m going up.” Harry mumbles.

“So are we.” The dad replies happily. “Josh loves to ride the elevator, don’t you, Josh?”

Josh nods excitedly before turning to the section of buttons and pushing all of them.

“Don’t do that!” Harry shouts. “Don’t press those!”

“Hey, calm down. He’s just a kid.” The dad says, startled.

“Sorry, it’s just-I need to get to the twenty-third floor. It’s very important.”

“Why?” The little boy asks innocently.

“Because I met this boy. And he believes in destiny and fate and he said if we both end up on the same floor, then we’re meant to be together.”

“Oops.” Josh says guiltily, eyeing the mix of buttons lit up.

“It’s alright, kid. We’ll get there eventually.”

As the elevator stops every few floors, Harry, Josh and Josh’s dad, Ed, step out and do a quick search. On the seventeenth floor, they’re joined by an elderly couple. Josh explains the story after Harry does a quick scan of the eighteenth floor. 

Louis reaches the twenty-third floor and steps out, disappointment bubbling his stomach. He decides its possible that Harry’s elevator could have made a few stops, so he sits down and waits.

On the twentieth floor, a middle-aged man and his dog join the group. The elderly man explains what they’re doing and the dog barks happily.

Come on, three more floors.

Louis stands up and presses the ‘Down’ button on the elevator, filled to the brim with disappointment. The elevator dings, and Louis steps inside, pressing the button to take him to the first floor. 

Just as the door closes, Harry’s elevator opens on the twenty-third floor to reveal the empty hallway. Disappointment hits him like a brick wall, and he slumps his shoulders in defeat.

“We can keep going!” The elderly woman offers.

“No, no.” Harry mumbles. “This is the floor I picked. It’s not fate.”

“Sorry I pushed all the buttons.” Josh smiles sadly.

“It’s ok, buddy.” Harry says, patting him on the head. “It’s not your fault. It just wasn’t meant to be.”

“At least you got to keep the glove!” Ed offers.

“Yeah.” Harry laughs, pressing the button to take him to the first floor.

The elevator doors open on the first floor, and Louis steps outside. He walks hesitantly to the front doors, scanning the room several times before pushing open the doors and entering the cold air. He hails a cab and give the driver his address, looking longingly out the back window as the Waldorf disappears out of sight.

The elevator doors open on the first floor, and Harry waves goodbye to his new friends. Once the door closes, the smile vanishes from his face. He doesn’t even bother to scan the crowded lobby before he exits the hotel, hands stuffed in his pockets. He walks home in the chilly winter air and falls asleep within seconds; his mind filled with ice cream, ice skating and ugly Christmas sweaters.

-*-*-*-*-*

1 year later.

“They say that once in your lifetime, someone comes along whom you’re absolutely meant to be with. Everything feels great. The stars are aligned, body and spirit are in balance. For my friend Harry Styles, that person…was me.” Light chuckles fill the room as Zayn raises his hand to continue. “As you all know, Harry and I were like brothers from another mother. We were friends since first year. I watched him go out with woman after woman and, eventually, man after man; and he’d always come crawling back to me. It was embarrassing, really.”

“You loved it.” Harry yells. Everyone is laughing and Harry wipes the tears of laughter from his eyes.

“But one night he came home, and things were different.” Zayn continues. “He hardly even responded to my playful, yet tormenting flicks to the back of his head as he studied for finals and filled out job applications. And that is because…he had found him.” Zayn smiles. “The man he was meant to be with. And if anyone in the world is qualified to know when he’s met his soulmate, it’d be me…his first love” Zayn jokes.  
Harry’s mom laughs especially hard, her mind undoubtedly flashing back to the awkward talk in which she tried to tell Harry is was “ok if he liked men, even ones as weird and crazy as Zayn.” to which Harry blushed profusely and assured her they were just friends. Because, well, they really were.

“He’s smart, he’s funny, he’s charming as hell. In short, he’s the perfect man any gay, and probably straight man, would dream about. I know I have.” Zayn winked. “So,” Zayn continued, lifting his glass of champagne. “It is with great fondness that I raise my glass to the future Mr. and Mr. Styles hyphen Grimshaw.” 

Harry smiled fondly as he leaned over to kiss his fiancé lightly on the mouth. Their friends and family applaud and coo, Zayn especially. When he pulls back, he can’t help but let his heart swell at the sight of the brown eyes looking back at him. They weren’t the blue one’s he’d been hoping for, on this day especially, but a years worth of waiting seemed like enough.

After the dinner, Harry led Nick and his family outside. 

“Harry, will you be joining us for dessert?” His mother, Anne, asked hopefully.

“Nah, I think I’m just gonna head home.”

“Alright, honey. See you tomorrow.” She called out, turning to leave with the rest of the crowd.

“I’ll see you at home?” Nick asked, kissing Harry’s forehead.

“See you at home.” Harry smiled.

Nick ran to caught up with his family and his family-in-law, sending another quick wave in Harry’s direction. Harry sighed and looked up at the building in front of him. The Waldorf still had the same stupid sign from a year ago. Harry kicked a nearby rock and started his walk home.

About a block from his house, Harry passes a book stand. He scans the selection quickly, eyes stopping on one book in particular. He picks up the vendor’s copy of 17Black 29Red and holds is carefully in his hands. He takes a deep breath and flips to the inside of the cover.

Nothing.

Sighing, Harry puts the book back down on the table and walks away, ignoring the vendor’s comments about the good condition of the book. It’s not the right one.

Once home, Harry flops on his bed, ignoring the crumpling of wrapping paper and shopping bags that sound from underneath him. One particularly uncomfortable bag keeps poking his neck, though, so Harry picks it up and throws it across the room. As the bag hits the floor, he notices the familiar Bloomingdales logo and immediately jumps up.

Inside, just like he’d thought, was the tiny black glove. Nick must’ve found it in the back of Harry’s closet and confused it with a present that needed wrapping. Having a wedding so close to Christmas was driving Nick absolutely mad, so he busied himself with wrapping gifts.

Harry played with the glove in his hands and decided, for humors sake, to try it on. His hand was no more than halfway in when his fingers brushed against what felt like a piece of paper. Turning the glove inside out, Harry unfolds the piece of paper and reads its contents.

“It’s a receipt.” Harry whispers to himself, studying the account number. 

In an instant, he’s out the door and sprinting down the block to Liam’s shop.

“Harry!” Liam greets him. “Why aren’t you at the dinner?”

“It’s finished already.” Harry replies quickly. “Look, Liam, I need your help with something. I need you to look up this account number for me.”

“Alright, who’s is it?”

“I, uh, that’s just it. I was hoping you could tell me.” Harry bites his lip.

“This wouldn’t have anything to with that boy you and Zayn were on about a few weeks ago, would it?” Liam asks. Harry stays silent. “Harry! You’re getting married in 48 hours!”

“I know, I know.” Harry pleads. “But please, Liam. I at least want to know his name. Please.”

“I can’t, Harry. I don’t have that kind of authority to look up someone’s account number and give you their information.”

“I understand.” Harry sighs, defeated. He turns to leave, but Liam stops him.

“Wait.” Liam huffs. “Alright. Just give it to me.”

Harry beams, sprinting around the counter to lock his bestfriends husband in a bear hug, mumbling thank you’s and I love you’s until Liam is squirming out of his grasp.

“This is a one time thing, alright Haz?”

“I understand.” Harry replies, nodding enthusiastically.

Liam sighs as he types in the account number into his computer. After a few moments of antagonizing silence, Liam bites his lip and looks at Harry uncertainly.

“This, uh, the account is closed.” He says softly.

“Well, can’t you tell me who owned it?”

“No. You see, when an account is closed, all information on it is moved to the new account.”

“So look up the new account.” Harry says, although it comes out as more of a question.

“I don’t have the account number, Haz.”

Harry sighs in frustration. “Alright, well. Thanks, Li. I’ll see you at the wedding, right?”

“Yeah. Yeah, of course.” Liam assures him. “But Harry, I can tell you the last transaction he made on this account was what looks like a final rent payment on an apartment. I can give you the address if you want.”

Harry’s eyes widen. “Could you?”

“If you promise not to tell anyone,” Liam laughs. “Then yeah.” Liam writes down the address and hands it to him, mumbling something about confidentiality and laws. Harry’s shouting thank you’s as he runs out the door, hailing a cab before Liam can stutter out a response.

The address takes him to an apartment about 20 minutes from Liam’s shop. Straightening his tie, Harry knocks on the door.

“Can I help you?” An older man asks, opening the door.

“Hi, uh, my name is Harry Styles. I was wondering if you could give me some information about one of your tenants? He lived here about a year ago.”

The man looked at hi expectantly.

“Uhm, well, you see, he was a friend of mine and we sort of lost touch and I was just wondering if you could tell me where he lives now?”

“Sure, come on in and I’ll have a look at my records.”

Harry nods and follows the man inside. “My names Simon, by the way. SImon Cowell.”

“Nice to meet you.” Harry says, shaking the older mans hand.

“So, tell me, what’s your friends name?”

“Louis.”

“Louis what?”

“Er, I don’t know.” Harry says hesitantly.

“Boy, do you know how many Louis’ have lived here in the past year?”

“No, but I do know that he moved out about a year ago today. If you could maybe just look and see if his name pops up?”

Harry sits in Simon’s office for a few silent minutes, waiting anxiously.

“I’m sorry, kid. The only thing I have here is some couple under the name of Louis and Stanley Lucas. And I doubt you’d be here chasing after a married man like that.”

Harry’s jaw dropped. No, Louis said he didn’t even have a boyfriend, let alone a husband. “I, uh, are you, uhm, sure that they were married?”

“Let me think,” Simon mumbled to himself, reclining in his hair. “I vaguely remember the two. Come to think of it, actually, the little bugger Stan always had a new lady come up to the room. Never left til the next morning. I knew those little buggers were screwing with me. Lived here under a fake name the whole time.” Simon said, his voice angry.

“Do you, uh, you don’t know where they went, do you?”

“‘Course not! If I did, I’d have their necks wrung for screwing with me like that!” Simon shouted. “I do know they got paired up through some roommate pairing site, though. RoomSurf or something. I can give you the address, if ya want.”

“Yes, please.” Harry nodded. “Thank you.”

As soon as he got the address, Harry was outside dialing Zayn’s number.

“Zayn? I think I’m really close to finding Louis. Can you come pick me up?”

“Jesus, Harry!” Zayn scolds when Harry gets in the car. “Is this what you’ve been doing since the dinner? Scamming my poor husband into risking his job and bullying some old man?”

Harry punched his bestfriend on the arm playfully. “Shut up and drive me to this place, yeah?”

The ride was somewhat sort and relatively silent, save for the few snide remarks from Zayn about how sparkly Harry’s eyes get when he’s in love.

“The place should be around the corner, let me park here and-” Zayn stops mid-sentence because Harry is already out of the car and sprinting around the corner.

When Zayn finally catches up, he’s panting and leans on Harry for support, unaware of the curly haired boy’s trance.

“Harry? What’s wrong?” Zayn follows Harry’s eyes. “Oh.” 

Zayn feels his heart sink a little for his friend as they both stare at the bridal shop that once was the RoomSurf headquarters. 

“I could go inside and see, uh, where they moved too, Haz. It isn’t over yet, we-“

“Zayn.” Harry cuts him off. “Don’t you get it? This is a sign.”

“What is?”

“It’s a bridal shop. It’s a sign that I just need to get married. As much as I want him to be, Louis clearly isn’t the one I’m supposed to marry. Nick is.”

Zayn rests a comforting hand on his friends shoulder as they make their way back to the car. Harry gives one fleeting look towards the brightly lit bridal shop before getting into Zayn’s car and going home.

“It just wasn’t meant to be.”

-*-*-*-*-*

Meanwhile, in London.

“C’mon Niall!” Louis pleads. “It’ll be fun!”

“No, Louis. I refuse to take part in this.”

“Take part in what?” Louis jumps when another voice enters their conversation. He looks at the door and sees his girlfriend, Eleanor standing there with a confused look on her face.

“Louis wants to go to New York.” Niall blurts out, earning a slap on the back of the head from Louis. “What?” He asks innocently.

Louis scowls, but before he can respond with a very sassy you know what and a string of profanities, Eleanor is tugging his arm.

“New York, Lou?” She asks quietly, biting her lip. “That’s awfully far away. And so close to our anniversary?”

“I’ll be back by then, El.” Louis assures her, pressing a light kiss to her forehead.

“Think of it as an anniversary present, from me to you!” Niall bounces excitedly. Eleanor cocks her head, confused. “Well, you don’t have to deal with Louis for a few days, and Louis gets to spend some quality time with his bestfriend in his favorite city.”

“Alright, fine.” Eleanor huffs. As she leans in to hug him, Louis mouths a quick thank you to Niall. Niall nods but still shakes his head disapprovingly.

After a few hours of packing and scheduling last-minute plane tickets, the two boys are out getting a quick lunch.

“Let’s go to that small cafe down the block, the one that takes American money? I’ve already converted all my money.” Niall offers.

Louis nods and follows Niall out the door.

“I still don’t think this is a good idea, Louis.” Niall says slowly, once they’re seated with their food.  
“I know, but, it’s been a year. Don’t you think I should give fate a little push?”

“Don’t get me wrong, mate. I think it’s a wonderful thought; the idea that every single event is all part of some master plan designed to lead us to our universal soulmate. But, if that’s all true, then what’s the point of living? Or making decisions? Why should we even get out of bed in the morning?”

“For the food?” Louis offers hopefully, desperate to steer the conversation elsewhere.

“Yes,” Niall laughs, taking a bite from his sandwich. “But also to take mistakes, mistakes like this trip to New York. And, if you’re smart enough, you learn from your mistakes. It didn’t work out last time, what makes you think it’s going to work out now? If we can even find him?”

“It wasn’t the right time last time!” Louis says loudly in defense.

“Is now the right time?”

“Well,” Louis hesitates. “That’s what we’re going to find out.”

“Louis,” Niall says seriously. “You have a girlfriend who, despite your weird obsession with fate and destiny, is still willing to be with you, probably forever. I know its confusing, you being bisexual and all, but Eleanor is a sure thing. She’s safe. Why are you willing to risk all that for some bloke you met in New York City almost a year ago?”

“I dunno, Niall.” Louis says honestly. “I just, I really felt something when I was with him, you know? Kind of like you and Rosie; you guys met and fell in love. I think, with me and Harry, it wasn’t the right time for us to fall in love. I have a really good feeling about this trip, alright? So, I’m gonna go to the bathroom, you pay the check, and then we’ll leave, alright?” Louis winks, getting up from the table and running to the bathroom before Niall could protest.

“Prick.” He mutters under his breath as he waves down the waitress.

When the waitress brings him back the change, Louis is coming out of the bathroom. Niall quickly shoves the 5 dollar bill and change into his pocket. Apparently, he wasn’t inconspicuous enough, because Louis looks at him suspiciously.

“Not gonna leave a tip, mate?” He asks.

“I figured you could do that, at least!” Niall laughs, punching Louis playfully on the arm.

“Yeah, yeah.” Louis mutters.

Truthfully, Niall was getting a bit sick of Louis checking every 5 dollar bill he sees. And, he hates the look of disappointment that sticks on Louis’ face for hours after.

The boys get back to Louis flat, take their luggage outside and wait for the cab to take them to the airport. Eleanor sees them off, kissing Louis for what feels like hours, before allowing him to get in the cab. He feels a bit guilty as he sees her wipe a tear from her cheek as the cab drives down the street.

“Still wanna do this, mate?” 

“Yeah.” Louis breathes. “Yeah, I do.”

When they get to the airport, amazingly enough, Louis is starving. He buys a candy bar at the kiosk and secretly checks the two 5 dollar bills he gets back as change. Niall notices, though, and pats him on the back reassuringly.

The plane takes off and Louis looks at Niall with a smile on his face.

“What?”

“Nothing.” Louis says, turning his head to look out the window.

“Come on, Louis. What are you so smiley about?”

“You haven’t asked where we’re staying.”

“Alright?” Niall says, confused. After a minute of silence, he grows impatient. “Well?”

“The Waldorf.” Louis giggles.

Niall groans and lets his head fall back onto the headrest. “I knew I shouldn’t have let you book the rooms.”

“And we have to get ice cream when we land.”

“I’m always down for ice cream!” Niall perks up.

“At Serendipity.” Louis smiles.

Niall groans again. This is going to be a long trip.

When the plane lands, Louis wastes no time hailing a cab and getting to the Waldorf. They drag their luggage and Louis tries to ignore the butterflies in his stomach as he presses the button for the elevator. It dings and Louis is about to step inside when a group of people step out.

“Sorry.” Louis mumbles.

“Niall? Niall Horan? No way!” Louis looks up to see Niall with his arms around a taller boy with jet black hair.

“Zayn! Wow, this is crazy! What’re you doing here?” Niall asks excitedly.

“My friends getting married.”

“Nice. I’m here with my friend Louis, just visiting. It’s crazy that we ran into you!”

“Completely crazy, wow.” A slightly smaller boy with puppy brown eyes clears his throat and Zayn chuckles. “Niall, Louis, this is my boyfriend, Liam.”

Liam steps forward and shakes both of their hands and if Zayn notices the exchange between him and Niall, he doesn’t mention it, but Louis almost does. He’s about to ask if the two of them already know each other when Zayn interrupts his thought process.

“You two should come to the wedding!” Zayn offers.

“When is it?” Niall asks.

“Day after tomorrow.” Liam responds.

Niall looks to Louis hopefully.

“It’ll be good to catch up with you.” Zayn adds.

Louis shrugs. “You go ahead, I’m probably just gonna sleep through tomorrow.”

“Alright.” Zayn laughs. “You’re welcomed to come if you change your mind.”

“Thanks.” Louis smiles. Honestly, the thought of a wedding while he’s trying to find his potential soulmate seems a bit counterproductive. 

“Well, I have to go meet up with H and makes sure he gets to the rehearsal dinner on time, so I’ll see you tomorrow, Niall. And Louis, enjoy your 48 hour sleep.” The four of them laugh and say their goodbyes and Louis and Niall finally make their way to their room.

Zayn walks outside where Harry is already waiting for him. “Sorry we’re late, just ran into an old friend from my first and only year at uni.”

“S’fine.” Harry nods. “Let’s just get going.”

Back in their room, Louis flops on his bed and is asleep in an instant. Niall, however, lays awake, Liam’s face swimming through his mind. He met Liam around the same time he met Zayn. He was at a uni party, drunk as ever, and stumbled into the bathroom. Liam was in there, breaking up with his girlfriend.

He remembers the look on the girls face when he walked in, Danielle he thinks her name is.

“Is this him, then?” She shrieks.

Liam mumbles something, but Niall doesn’t quite catch it. 

“I must say, Liam,” The girl spits. “If you’re going to break this off over your crush on some bloke, you could have at least had better taste.”

“Excuse me, but-” Niall tries to defend himself, but is cut off when a pair of lips find his. He melts into it, marveling in the way Liam’s big hands frame his face. He heard a disgusted noise, and then the bathroom door slams shut. Liam breaks away and if the shade of his face is anything to go by, Niall knows he’s red as a tomato. 

“Sorry ‘bout her.” Liam says nervously. “Danielle can be a bit much sometimes when she’s angry. Didn’t mean anything by it, I’m sure. Even she can see you’re well fit.”

Niall reddens more, if possible.

“Sorry if you’re not…you know.” Liam shrugs. “You just have really impeccable timing.”

Niall laughs. “Don’t worry about it, mate. Happy to help out a friend. I’m Niall, by the way.” He says, extending his hand. Liam takes it and shakes it firmly. “And I am…you know.” Niall winks.

Liam laughs. “Good to know.”

Niall doesn’t really remember the rest of the night, but what he does remember is all liamliamliamliamliam. However, he wakes up with nothing but a note on his bedside table.

Last night was fun. See you around.

Liam xxx

He doesn’t though. Because it was an end of the semester party, and Niall ended up dropping out before the beginning of the next one. He never saw Liam again, but he was pretty sure he was in love. That was, until he met Rosie one day at a carnival and, well, that was pretty much it.

Sometimes, Niall convinces himself it’s possible to have two soulmates. Other times, though, he convinces himself that if you mess things up with your first soulmate, you don’t get another chance, and you’re on you’re own to find someone just as good.

Niall still has the note, he thinks.

The next day, Louis is awake before Niall, and decides to walk around the city to occupy his time. He goes to Bloomingdales and looks at the glove rack longingly. He stands outside Serendipity for a few minutes before he actually goes in, deciding it’s never too early for ice cream. The place is practically empty and Louis marvels in the familiar smell.

When the waiter brings him back a 10 dollar bill for change, he smirks.

“Excuse me, sir?” The waiter turns around. “Sorry, but, do you think I could get two fives instead of this ten?”

“Of course.” The waiter replies happily, switching the bills from the tip money in his apron. He hands Louis the two 5 dollar bills and Louis sighs in disappointment. 

“Something wrong, sir?” The waiter asks.

“No, everything’s fine. Thank you.” Louis smiles. He grabs his jacket and sighs again before he makes his way back to the hotel.

Niall isn’t in the room when he returns and he assumes he’s out eating half of New York City’s food supply. He lays down in his bed and runs through every detail of his last encounter with Harry before slowly drifting to sleep.

He’s woken up by a lot of yelling in the hallway and gets up to grumpily tell them all to shut the hell up. He swings open the door and eyes the small group of people.

“Sorry if we woke you.” An older woman smiles apologetically. 

“It’s alright.” Louis nods. “Everything ok?”

“No. Everything is not ok.” A man, who Louis assumes to be about his age, dressed in a suit retorts. “My best man and my groom are missing. I can’t even find Liam to ask him where Zayn is, which means half of my groomsmen are missing. And, our final rehearsal dinner is tonight.”

Louis debates on telling him that he’s met Zayn and Liam, but Niall isn’t around and he doesn’t have either of their numbers so he guesses he’s just as useless as the woman trying to calm him down.

“Honestly, Nicholas.” She scolds. “It isn’t this poor man’s fault. Just relax, I’m sure they’ll show up soon. You know how Zayn is, always running late.”

Nick smiles apologetically at Louis and he nods. “I’ll try to quiet my emotional breakdown.”

Louis chuckles. “Thanks, mate. And congratulations!”

Nick’s smile widens and Louis nods once more before closing the door and trudging back to his bed. Sleep comes easier this time, and Louis is out like a light by the time Niall comes sneaking back in an hour later.

-*-*-*-*-*

“Harry, can I talk to you for a second?” Nick asks, his voice wavering.

“Yeah, sure, what’s up?” Harry walks over from the crowd of people just getting out from their final rehearsal dinner before the big day.

Nick holds Harry’s eyes for what feels like hours, but is probably only a few seconds.

“Nick? What’s wrong?” Harry asks, grabbing Nick’s hands in his and guiding him to two seats in the hotel lobby.

“It’s you.” 

“Me?” Harry says, taken aback. “What do you mean it’s me? What did I do?”

“Nothing!” Nick shouts. “It’s just this feeling I have. Like you’ve been somewhere else for the past few days.”

“That’s not true.” Harry whispers, ignoring the guilt swirling in his stomach.

“Don’t like to me, Haz.” Nick sighs. “I’ve dreamed about this my entire life. From the flowers to the god damn napkin designs. Everything is exactly the way I want it except for my fiancé who’s just decided to float off to his own little world.”

“Alright, so maybe I’ve been a bit out of it. But I’m sorry, I really am.”

“Whatever it is that you’re holding on to,” Nick whispers. “let it go.”

Instead of responding right away, Harry pulls Nick into a hug. He responds immediately, wrapping his arms around Harry’s waist. I think it’s already let go of me.

Harry breaks the hug first, and wipes a few stray tears from Nick’s eyes. But, before he can escape, Nick stops him.

“Before you run off,” Nick says, slightly happier, pulling a wrapped present from underneath his jacket.

“What’s this?”

“It’s a traditional grooms gift.” Nick laughs.

“I didn’t get you anything!”

“Just open it, Haz.”

Harry carefully rips open the colorful wrapping paper to reveal a copy of 17Black 29Red. His blood runs cold and he can’t tell if his heart stops or if it’s beating really, really fast.

“Every time we walk into a bookstore, you’re always flipping through it. And I checked the flat and we don’t even have a copy. So, I ran out and got one.” Nick smiles.

Slowly, Harry opens the cover of the book.

Louis Tomlinson

555-5510

He stares at it, a million thoughts running through his head.

“What’s wrong?” Nick asks. “Don’t you like it?”

“It’s perfect.” Harry manages, trying to keep his voice neutral.

He hugs Nick and presses a quick kiss to his forehead before running upstairs to his room, book in hand, leaving Nick speechless in the lobby.

Hesitantly, Harry dials the number, only to be met with the operators voice telling him the number is no longer in service.

“Dammit!” He shouts, throwing his phone and the book onto the bed. He sits down on the edge of the bed, cradling his head in his hands. Finally, he grabs his phone and dials 411.

“Hi, hello, yes. I need the number of a Louis Tomlinson. I have his old phone number and I was wondering if you could give me his new one?”

Harry jots down the number and furrows his brow.

“Will that be all, sir?” The woman on the other line asks.

“Yes, thank you very much.” Harry replies, ending the call. 

020 555 0134

He decides to type the number into Google and lets out a frustrated groan when he sees the number is from London.

He picks up his phone and dials and all-too familiar number, which is answered on the first ring.

“Zayn? We’re going to London.”

-*-*-*-*-*

“Me and Liam are having problems.” Zayn blurts out once they’re seated on the plane.

“What?”

“We’ve been fighting a lot, and I don’t know…”

“Why didn’t you tell me?” Harry shouts quietly.

“I didn’t wanna ruin your wedding, man. I just-“

“I don’t care about that! What the hell happened? You guys look so happy.”

“I know, I just, I don’t know. It’s gotten worse since the rehearsal dinners started. I just, I feel like he’s always had feelings for someone else, you know? Like, there’s someone else he’s meant to be with. He knows it, too. I guess me and Nick are in the same boat.”

Harry opens his mouth to speak, but no words come out.

“Sorry, sorry.” Zayn mutters. “That wasn’t fair. Sorry, just ignore me.”

“I’m sorry, too.” Harry whispers. “About you and Liam.”

The rest of the flight is spent going over every little detail on how they’re going to find Louis. Harry managed to narrow down a town from Louis’ phone number, which is a good start.

They’ve just hailed a cab when Harry remembers to turn his phone on. It’s early in London, which means its even earlier back at home. Nonetheless, he receives a phone call almost instantaneously.

“Hello?”

“Harry, where the fuck are you?!” Nick asks furiously.

“London.”

“London?! You’re in bloody London?! What the fuck are you in London for? Harry, are you serious?”

“Yes, yes. I’m sorry, I really am, but I have to go, okay? I love you, Nick. I’ll be back by tonight, I swear.” Before Nick can protest, Harry hangs up and turns his phone back off.

“Oh god.” Zayn mutters, climbing into the cab.

“Where to?” The driver asks.

Harry gives him the name of the town while Zayn dials 411 to get the exact address. It takes a few minutes, but they finally get it all sorted out. Harry’s heart is beating a thousand miles a second the whole way there.

The cab stops infront of a cozy looking apartment building. Harry checks the tenant list in the lobby and his heart flutters when he sees the name Louis Tomlinson right next to 4B. 

He decides the lift is more practical than climbing four flights of stairs and Zayn silently thanks his lucky stars. He finds 4B in no time, but can’t bring himself to knock.

“Go on, Haz. You’ve got this.” He whispers to himself. But, before he can lift his hand to knock, Zayn does it for him. He shoots him a look and Zayn smiles helplessly.

Harry’s heart stops, and the door swings open to revel a pretty girl with long brown hair.

“Hello.” She smiles.

“Hi, uh, sorry.” Harry stutters. “I must have the wrong apartment number. I’m looking for Louis Tomlinson?”

“No, you’ve got it right.” The girl laughs. “I’m Eleanor, his girlfriend. Who are you?”

“I’m uh,” Harry tries. It feels like all the air’s been sucked out of his lungs.

“Someone’s sent him a singing telegram.” Zayn cuts in. “Is he here?”

“No, he’s in New York City.” Eleanor smiles. “Can I ask who it’s from?”

Harry’s face is horror struck as Zayn shouts a quick excuse about customer confidentiality and about coming back next week and drags the curly haired boy back into the lift.

“We’ve got to get back to New York.”

-*-*-*-*-*

Louis walks into his hotel room to find all the lights off. Hmm, that’s weird. He thinks as he flips on the light switch. After his eyes adjust to the brightness of the room, he sees a very surprised Niall straddling a very guilty Liam on the couch.

“Oh, uh, sorry.” He mutters as he walks into his bedroom and closes the door. A few minutes later, Louis hears the front door close. Niall peeps his head in the door a few seconds later.

“So, uh, me and Liam,” Niall starts.

“It’s fine, mate.”

“It’s not actually.” Niall sighs. “He’s with Zayn.”

“Still?!” Louis shouts. “Niall! Zayn is going to kill you!”

“He doesn’t have to know. Liam’s going to end it now. I just, I can’t explain it, Louis. I think Liam may be my Harry, you know?”

Louis is quiet for a second. “We have to go, you know.” Niall looks up at him confused. “Back to London.”

Niall sighs. “Yeah. I know.”  
They begin to pack up their belongings in silence when Niall mumbles something about going to say goodbye to Liam. After a few more minutes of packing, Louis decides to take a break and take a walk around the hotel. He barely makes it down the hall when he hears muffled yelling coming from the opposite end of the hallway. He walks over curiously to see Zayn yelling at a cowering Liam in the corner. 

“Everything alright?” Louis asks, making his presence known.

“Yeah, everything’s fine.” Zayn sighs. “You know what, Liam? Fine. You want to end this instead of working on it? Fine. I have to go comfort my bestfriend on his wedding day anyway.” And with that, Zayn stormed off.

The second Zayn is gone, Liam is burying his face into Louis shoulder, tears soaking through his shirt.

“It’s alright, Liam.” Louis whispers. “Niall is looking for you.”

Liam nods and walks back down the hallway, wiping his eyes. Louis sighs and pushes the elevator button.

“Hold the elevator!”

Louis pushes the button to open the door and a disheveled Zayn enters.

“Oh, Louis. Hi, thanks.” 

Louis nods.

“Look, about what you saw. It’s just, me and Liam were having problems and he just, he ended it. He didn’t even wanna work on it, ya know?”

“I’m sorry.” Louis offers.

“It’s alright. I’ll survive, right?”

Louis smiles and the elevator dings.

“Sorry, ‘M getting off on this floor. Gotta calm down H on his wedding day.”

He’s still smiling when the elevator doors open and Louis’ eyes lock with a pair of familiar green ones.

Harry.

His smile widens for a moment before he notices Harry’s dressed in a suit with a very smiley Nick draped on his arm. The woman from the other day when Louis met Nick is there, along with at least a dozen other people all dressed up.

Harry opens his mouth to speak, but he can’t manage anything. His heart is pounding in his chest, chanting louislouislouis. He watches as realization dawns in Louis eyes and the smile drops off his face completely as the doors close.

Harry’s getting married. Louis repeats to himself for the billionth time as he rides the elevator back up to his floor. He takes out his phone to call Niall and thrusts it back in his pocket frustratingly when he get’s his voicemail. The elevator doors open and Louis sprints to his room. When the door swings open, Liam and Niall are sitting on the couch.

“I’m staying here with Liam.” Niall blurts out.

Louis ignores the pang in his gut and mumbles an okay before grabbing his bag, throwing the contents of the coffee table into it and running into the other room to grab his suitcase. He’s out the door before Niall can ask if he’s going to be alright. It’s a good thing, though, because Louis doesn’t know if he can answer that question.

He hails a cab in no time and makes it to the airport before he can think twice. When the airport comes into view, Louis digs through his bag to find his wallet. He pulls out his phone first and sees 15 missed calls from Niall, 7 from a number he doesn’t recognize and a full inbox of text messages. He scans them and realizes the unknown number is Zayn. All the messages are telling him to come back, and he guesses the voicemails do, too. He turns off his phone and drops it back in his bag before digging through his bag again to find his wallet. He pulls it out just as they pull up to the airport and groans.

“Sorry, sir. I seem to have grabbed my friends wallet by mistake.”

“Well, is there any money in it?” The man says with a smirk. 

Louis grins back and opens it. “There is!”

“Problem solved, then.”

Louis takes out the bills and counts it when a scribble of black ink catches his eye.

Harry Styles

555-6521

“No way.” Louis breathes.

“Sir?” The cab driver asks.

“Take me back to the Waldorf.”

The driver looks at him confused, but puts the car into drive and makes his way to the Waldorf nonetheless. Louis clutches the 5 dollar bill the whole way there and prays he’s not too late.

The cab pulls up to the Waldorf and Louis throws all the money in Niall’s wallet to the driver, save for one 5 dollar bill. He runs past the front desk and straight towards the room where they host weddings. The door swings open to reveal a janitor in an empty room stacking chairs.

“Am I too late?” Louis asks frantically.

“Excuse me?”

“Is the wedding over?”

“Yeah, you missed it. It was quite the ceremony.” The janitor smiles widely.

Louis felt his eyes prick with tears. Before he could stop them, the tears spilled over and his body was wracked with sobs. He leant against the wall for support and tried to take deep breaths. Anytime he came close to calming down, though, anther thought popped into his head.

He was too late. Harry was married. And, worst of all, Harry saw him and still married Nick.

“You alright, sir?” The janitor asked, concern evident in his voice.

“I’m fine. Sorry. I just, uh, can’t believe I missed the wedding is all.” Louis mumbled as he turned to leave.

“You didn’t.”

“What?” Louis asked, spinning around to look at the older man.

“The curly one called it off.”

Louis’ eyes widened and then he was running.

-*-*-*-*-*

Harry sighs after the waiter brings him his third chocolate milkshake of the night. He plays with a loose string in the ‘S’ of Serendipity on his napkin, his heart still chanting the familiar beat of louislouislouis.

Eventually, he pays the check and leaves. He supposes he looks a bit silly walking around in just his suit, but that’s the last thing on his mind. He walks around New York City aimlessly for an hour and almost cries when he realizes he’s near the ice rink. 

The rink is nearly deserted, so he decides to rent some skates and skates circles around the center. He thinks back to when him and Louis spent hours getting to know each other and now they’re not even in the same country. It starts to snow and that’s when Harry looses it.

He lets himself sink to his knees and buries his face in his hands. He reaches into his pocket and pulls out the glove. He lays down in the middle of the rink and lets the tears fall silently.

Louis left. Even when Niall and Zayn told him to come back, he still left. Not that he blamed him. As far as Louis knew, he was married to Nick and living happily ever after. Harry cried harder as he pictured Nick’s face when he called off the wedding. What hurt him was that Nick didn’t look upset. It was almost like he understood…like he knew.

Harry feels something warm hit his forehead and he opens his eyes to see some sort of cloth is on his face. He sits up and the item falls into his lap. When he realizes its a glove, he looks at it, and then to his hand. How the-

His train of thought shuts down when he sees Louis standing at the entrance of the ice rink, hands shoved in his pockets, nose red from the cold. Harry shoves off his skates and is running barefoot towards him before he can even process that Louis is actually here.

Louis’ smile widens as Harry jumps into his arms. They stand there for a few minutes, breathing in each other and letting tears fun happily down their cheeks. Louis pulls away first and has to stop himself from giggling at the noise of protest Harry makes.

“I told you fate would bring us together.” He whispers. Harry beams. 

“Yeah, you did.” He mumbles against Louis’ lips.

The snow falls a little bit faster and the wind blows a little bit harder, but all Harry can think about is the fact that Louis’ lips are on his and if this what fate had in store for them, then it was totally and completely worth it.


End file.
